April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Mitt Romney avoided explaining his
immigration policies while campaigning in Arizona, as he sought
to soothe wounds from the Republican presidential primary season
and attack President Barack Obama’s record.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee declined to
make any substantive comments about immigration as he met with
Hispanic business leaders during a roundtable discussion at the
Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tempe.

“Thank you, appreciate it,” Romney said, after one
participant suggested he should support something akin to the
so-called DREAM Act. That bill, which Romney opposes and
Republicans have blocked in Congress, would let undocumented
residents brought to the U.S. as babies or young children obtain
citizenship if they attend college or join the military.

Throughout the primary campaign, Romney took a tough stance
on illegal immigration, aligning himself with attitudes of the
Republican Party’s base. That could hurt him in the November
general election if Hispanics are alienated by his positions and
rhetoric.

In an interview that aired last night on the Fox News
Channel, Romney said he would support some form of legislation
that would provide a “realistic way” for more legal
immigration.

Skill and Experience

“I’d like people who have skill and experience and who
speak English, education; I’d like to make it easier for them to
come to the country,” he said.

During several debates in the primary campaign, Romney
stressed his opposition to any plan that would grant citizenship
to illegal immigrants without forcing them to leave the country
and return under legal status.

Hispanic registered voters backed Obama over Romney, 67
percent to 27 percent, in a poll released April 17 by the Pew
Research Center. Four years ago, Obama won a similar proportion
in his victory over Republican Arizona Senator John McCain.

Arizona’s population is almost 30 percent Hispanic,
according to U.S. Census data, and it has been at the center of
the nation’s debate over illegal immigration. The state
unemployment rate is 8.6 percent, above the national average of
8.2 percent.

At a rally outside the historical society museum, Romney
kept his focus on the economy and Obama.

Getting a Little Better

“He’s going to try to take credit for things if they get
better,” Romney told supporters. “I sure hope they get better
soon. They seem to be getting a little better. I sure hope so.
But he is not the reason things are getting better. They are
getting in spite of him instead of because of him.”

Earlier yesterday, Romney told members of the Republican
National Committee and state chairmen that Obama is “very
clearly out of ideas and out of excuses.”

Although the former Massachusetts governor isn’t yet the
official Republican presidential nominee, his appearance at the
gathering in Scottsdale, Arizona, signaled the party is rallying
around him.

At the start of his speech, he named his primary opponents
-- including Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and
Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose campaigns ended early -- and
said each “contributed to the process” and each would “play a
vital role” in this year’s campaign.

Romney was introduced by McCain, the party’s 2008 standard-bearer who earlier this year endorsed Romney.

Coming Together

“I am so gratified to see our party coming together in a
solid team that is going to elect him president of the United
States,” McCain said of Romney.

The meeting where the two men spoke is designed to map out
strategy for November’s election against Obama.

Lis Smith, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, responded to
Romney’s speech by saying he suffered from an “aversion to the
truth.”

“It’s no surprise why Mitt Romney didn’t talk about his
record or what he’d do as president,” Smith said in a
statement. “He doesn’t want to remind people that his record in
Massachusetts was one of more debt, higher taxes, and bigger
government.”

Romney emerged as the presumptive nominee after his main
challenger, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania,
announced on April 10 he was ending his candidacy.

Social Conservatives

Some social conservatives who are most motivated by issues
like opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage have yet to
fully line up behind Romney.

Steve Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member
from Iowa, said Romney hasn’t taken steps to “endear himself to
the conservative base” since it became all but certain he will
be nominated at the party’s Aug. 27-30 national convention in
Tampa, Florida.

Romney and his aides need to have more conversations with
social conservatives, Scheffler said, if they are going to be
motivated to work for him.

Saul Anuzis, a national committee member and former
chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, had a different take.

“Everyone is excited and ready to move on to the fall
election,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure everyone is
united.”

Evangelical Christians will “rally behind” Romney, Anuzis
said, once they contrast their choice with Obama. The Romney
camp announced he will deliver the commencement address May 12
at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, a college founded
by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell.

Aggressive Bid

Obama is making a more aggressive bid for Arizona than four
years ago, when he was running against McCain, who carried the
state by 9 percentage points.

Since 1952, Arizona has backed one Democratic presidential
candidate: Bill Clinton in 1996. The state is also home to a
Republican governor and two Republican senators.

Also helpful to Romney in Arizona is his Mormon faith. Like
many states in the western U.S., Arizona includes a sizable
Mormon population.

“Arizona may have well been in our sights in 2008 had John
McCain not been the nominee,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben
LaBolt said. “But with changing demographics and a Republican
front-runner who called for self-deportation and said he’d veto
the DREAM Act, it presents an especially rich opportunity.”

In his Fox News interview, Romney was asked about Montana
Governor Brian Schweitzer’s assertion that his family had links
to a “polygamy commune” in Mexico.

Romney’s father, who headed now defunct American Motors
Corp. before becoming governor of Michigan, was born in a Mormon
settlement in Mexico.

Romney said his grandfather “was not a polygamist,” and
that his father “had a very tough upbringing.”

Schweitzer, a Democrat, told the Daily Beast website
earlier this week that Romney wouldn’t want to highlight his
family’s connection to Mexico “because that history involves a
polygamy colony.”